Today I'm sharing a guest post from Alicia Gerrard, the director & founder of Audio Quants. Producing an audiobook is not cheap, but Alicia points out some of the reasons why the investment might be worth it. Of course, Audio Quants is just one of many audio book production companies, and like with everything you're thinking of purchasing, you need to research your options before committing to anything. My advice if you do decide to make an audio book, is to have a good marketing plan in place before taking the plunge. You'll not get back the money you spend on producing an audio book if you don't market it. Now read what Alicia has to say: Audiobooks now rival print as the format of choice for literary consumers. For good reason too. Reasons, in fact! Here are Audio Quants’ six benefits to turning your book into an audiobook. 1. An Ever-growing Market A 2020 survey by the Audio Publishers Association (APA) recorded that the number of Americans who have ever … [Read more...]
Book Review The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis
My daughter, Rose, and I both read The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis and decided to do a review video together. If you'd rather read the book review The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis than watch it, the subtitles are on the video. https://youtu.be/GlDk9szQ4wo BUY BOOK NOW It's free on Kindle Unlimited. … [Read more...]
How to Put Your Book on Goodreads
Do you know how to put your book on Goodreads? Do you know what Goodreads is and why putting your book there might be a good idea? If your answer is no, read on. What is Goodreads? Goodreads is an online place where avid readers hang out so it's a good place to have your book listed. As they say in their About Us section, 'Goodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations,' and their mission is 'to help people find and share books they love.' The site is for readers, and if authors use it, they need to use it as a reader, not as an author trying to sell their book. Spam is ruthlessly suppressed, and in some groups any mention that you've written a book could be seen as spam. Nevertheless, the site does have a role to play in building an author platform. What readers can do on Goodreads See what books their friends are reading.Track the books they're reading, have read, and want to read.Check out their personalized book recommendations. The … [Read more...]
Review of ‘Seven Perfect Things’ by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Watch my video review of Seven Perfect Things, a contempory fiction novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde to see what I thought of it and what makes it work as a story. The video has subtitles so you can read it if you prefer. About Seven Perfect Things Thirteen-year-old Abby Hubble lives in an unhappy home in the Sierra Nevada foothills where her father makes life miserable for her and her mother, Mary. One day Abby witnesses a man dump a litter of puppies into the nearby river. Diving in to rescue all seven, she knows she won’t be able to bring them home. Afraid for their fate at the pound, she takes them to an abandoned cabin, where all she can offer is a promise that she’ll be back the next day. To grieving widower Elliot Colvin, life has lost meaning. Looking for solace, he retreats to the hunting cabin he last visited years ago, before his wife’s illness. What he discovers is not at all what he expected: seven puppies and one determined girl with an indomitable heart. As Abby … [Read more...]
Watch for the Difference Between a Present Participle and a Gerund, also a Participle Adjective
The difference between a present participle and a gerund and also a participle adjective isn't immediately obvious and may seem unimportant, but when looking at sophistication in writing, it's helpful to know the difference. I've been making a bit of noise recently about the illadvised use of present participles to start sentences if we want our writing to look professional. See point one of my recent blog post and this video with 6 (+1) tips on writing better prose. However not every sentence starting with a word ending in 'ing' is problematic because not all words ending in 'ing' are present participles, some are gerunds and some, though they are still called participles, are participle adjectives not verbs. What's the difference? Both a gerund and a present participle come from a verb, and both end in 'ing'. However, each has a different function. A gerund acts like a noun while a present participle acts as a verb. A word ending in 'ing' can also act as an … [Read more...]
3 Little-Known Writing Mistakes: Avoid them and Improve Your Prose
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay Three writing mistakes that mark writing as that of an amateur seem to be breeding like flies in books written by unschooled or inadequately schooled authors. Clearly, these stylistic mistakes are little known, and it's time that changed. I read mostly independently published books, and unfortunately, though there is a great number of superbly written books in indie publishing, I also see a lot of writing marred by these blunders. If not checked, these 3 writing mistakes, will rapidly, all by themselves, diminish the power, beauty and precision of the written English language. How such writing mistakes diminish the power of the written language It works like this. One author writes a number of books all containing the following mistakes, but they market their books well and use a cut-price promotion to get one of their books onto a book bestseller list. Then they call themselves a best-selling author, and many readers and authors think their … [Read more...]
Dark Fantasy Book Review: ‘Shattered Kingdom’ by Angelina J. Steffort
If you like dark fantasy, then Shattered Kingdom by Angelina Steffort, and possibly the whole Shattered Kingdom Series is a good one for you. Watch the video below for my run down on what you'll find inside the novel. Authors may learn something from my examination of the plot devices Angelina Steffort has used by to create this engaging novel. https://youtu.be/O-1SlR448q8 Find out more & purchase the book here: https://geni.us/1AFpzBG Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay … [Read more...]
5 Mistakes in Writing Backstory or Delivering Information in Fiction
Information dump Writing backstory into a novel or delivering information in an effective way can be challenging. Backstory refers to events that happened in the past, and information is anything the reader needs to know in order to understand the story. If you don’t study how best to include information and backstories into your novel, you’re likely to fall into one of the following mistakes. 1. Too much information Generally, the reader needs less information than you think they do. So go through the information you have about characters, events and the world in which the events take place and cut out anything that doesn’t directly impact on the present story. You’d be surprised at how much information will come out simply as part of writing scenes. Writing backstory in may not be necessary at all. If no event is linked to a piece of information, then you don’t need to include that information. In terms of the story, it’s irrelevant. Character backstory The author … [Read more...]
Book Review: ‘These Tangled Vines’ by Julianne MacLean
Julianne Maclean is known as a romance writer, but this book could just as well be called literary fiction with a love story included or perhaps literary romance. Watch the video to get the full picture. And don't forget to like the video on YouTube - it helps get it seen. https://youtu.be/Eb1XJAWMUm0 Click for more info & purchase … [Read more...]
8 Steps to Answering the Question, Is My Book Any Good?
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay After writing 10 books myself and helping countless authors to do the same, I realise that at some point all authors ask Is my book any good? That's the point at which most authors come to me for a manuscript appraisal, but there is another way you can get a good idea of whether your book is 'any good'. When we evaluate 'good' in this context, we usually think in terms of how our book matches up to similar books. We're wondering, Is our book as good as the others out there? Here's a way to find out in 8 steps. Step 1: Take a break and read Take a break from working on your novel of at least 3 weeks (the longer the better) and read at least 3 quality books from the same genre. Choose competition winners and best sellers, books with thousands of reviews and no more than 2% of them 1 star. You're going to examine these books so you can compare yours to them. It's important that you get a feel for the quality of the prose and tightness … [Read more...]
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